Can Podcasting Hurt You in Search Engine Rankings?

Can Podcasting Hurt You in Search Engine Rankings?

The short answer to this is yes and no.

Search Engine Rankings are a function of Page Optimization and Site Popularity and are centered on your webpage’s content and how the words on your page match up with what a person types into a search engine ’search’.

For example, if you have a webpage about the pros and cons of certain types of cat food, you most likely have text on your page about dry cat food, wet cat food, raw meat, etc. When a search engine spider scans you page, it will index on the predominant terms on your page – ‘wet cat food’, ‘dry cat food’, etc. It will then match up its index results to customer’s search phrase.

What does this have to do with Podcasting?

Let’s think about this logically. What is a podcast? It is nothing more than an audio file that people access on the internet. In a 30 minute podcast, you can have tens of thousands of words in a spoken audio form – which a search engine CAN’T access. Do you see the problem now? The search engine can only index written content.

What to do?

There are a couple ways to tackle this problem. The first and easiest way is to write a summary about the content of the podcast, highlighting the key themes and phrases that seem to describe it best. This is what most podcaster’s do.

There is another option, however. You can transcribe (or have it transcribed for you) your podcast audio and place the text on a page on your site. Now, think of this – tens of thousands of words of pure, rich content on your site. The search engines will go bonkers with delight.

Most people don’t have the time to transcribe their material and so that’s why podcasting transcription services have sprung up. If you Google the term “podcast transcription”, you will find a myriad of companies out there that do this for a fee.

Whether you want to start out by doing this yourself to save some money or you want to hire it out, transcribing your podcast is golden way to add great, rich content ‘food’ for the search engines.

For other great articles about podcasting, blogging and other internet marketing themes, please visit http://AskStanBeck.com

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Viral Video Podcasting 1-2-3, or How to Make a Google Video

Video Podcasting, or viral videos are all the buzz in promotion these days. If you aren’t fond of keeping a written blog, and you never got past the technical obstructions to audio podcasting, you may be in for a pleasant surprise with video podcasting. It’s surprisingly simple to make appealing videos, host them for free on popular video sites, and drive prequalified traffic to your site or business.

The shoestring budget version of making videos

1. Use the free Windows Movie Maker that ships with Windows XP. That takes care of your basic editing needs including video effects, transitions, adding titles and credits, narration or other audio track, and exporting to a .wmv file type. Obviously if you find that your videos become extremely popular, you will want to target the MP3 file type for getting the full ipod revolution affect.Open Windows Movie Maker and you have a task toolbar that includes importing video, audio or images. Even if you have no video clips, you can do a lot with still photos. Consider first importing your site logo and using a video effect such as zoom in to imitate camera movement.

   With a digital camera, you can shoot a series of still photos and import them to make a stop motion video. If your digital camera has video capture capabilities, take full advantage of it.

2. For branding purposes, you may want to purchase some stock music or a stock music loop for commercial use. There are sites that offer free loops for personal and non-commercial use. The right background music can add a lot to your video and branding efforts. Just click on Import Audio in the Windows Movie Maker task menu and then switch the view of your workspace to timeline. Drag the audio file to where ever you like, as many times as you like (repeat a loop for a continuous background).
3. Click on “Save to my computer” and choose a video quality. While many times the “playback on computer” is fine, you may want to see if your video looks better in high quality. The file size will be larger, though.

That’s it, you’re ready to upload!

Upload to Yahoo Video, YouTube.com, AOL Video, Google Video, and any other video hosting sites you prefer.

Optional: Want to get fancy? Start a blog and use the embed features from Google Video or YouTube to embed your videos into your blog. Use an RSS to HTML converter such as CARP to pull your blog entries onto any site you like to promote your video blog.

You can use this method with an extremely small investment of time and money. You can produce viral videos, video tutorials, video product reviews, just about any marketing method you can think of. Be sure to feature your brand logo, and in sites that allow a link, such as Google Video, add your site link for viewers to find your site.

Robin Brown has been making video tutorials for Singer sewing machines with this method. She enjoys using her digital camera and was intriqued with the idea of marketing through Google Video. A search for how to make videos for Google turned up the trick of using Windows Movie Maker, a free program already bundled with Windows XP.

Visit http://www.sewsing.com/singersewingblog/ for video tutorials on using a mechanical Singer sewing machine. You can see the blog listings pulled by CARP on the index page of http://www.SewSing.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Robin_A._Brown

How To Start Your Own Podcast For Free

Clearly if you’ve been thinking about podcasting these days, you’ll notice right away that there are a TON of solutions out there on the web to help you begin podcasting. There are lots of companies which offer great solutions for podcasters…so be encouraged—there are many ways to go about doing this, and it’s really all up to you.

Here’s an easy, and free way of podcasting:

1. Set up an account with blogger.com. It’s a really simple step by step process. You’ll see once you get there.
2. Now set up an account with audioblogger.com. It will be connected to your blogger.com account. You will be using AudioBlogger to phone in and leave your recorded posts at your Blogger account. Therefore, you now have what’s called an “audioblog”! And for those of you who are familiar with blogging, this is a really quick and dynamic way of communicating on the web. Add to blogging “audio” and you now have “audioblogging”.

1. The next element in your audioblogging would be converting this to a language understood by podcast “readers” and aggregators. This would be the language “XML”, which, of course, we won’t get into in this tutorial. All you need to do now in order to convert your audio blog posts into a podcast is to open an account with Feedburner.com

1. In Feedburner you’ll be asked to burn a feed…you will enter the website address of your Blogger account, and Feedburner will automatically burn a feed for your blog. Your feed is what podcast displayers, aggregators, and such will use to download your podcast
2. So now that you have a feed for your podcast, you can announce your Podcast feed to friends, family, and the entire world! Simply give them the feed URL address which Feedburner created for you, and keep on audioblogging!

Demetria Zinga, M.S. is a web designer, internet marketing strategist, video & podcast consultant, & digital media trainer. Let Coach Demetria’s business technology training take your business to the next level today, by visiting http://www.faith-media.com

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Business Podcast Marketing Case Study Proves Results

Business Podcast Marketing Case Study Shows How Podcasting Delivers Dramatic Results for Client. Podcasting has significant business marketing potential. If the business podcast strategy and online visibility plan is properly executed; podcasting has the potential to be a marketing tool that delivers great marketing results.

The professional business marketers over at marketingsherpa.com have just released a new case study titled “How to Use a Podcast to Promote a White Paper That Generates New Business Sales Leads”. This case study is about how Bearing Point used podcasting to promote a white paper and saw sign up rates of over 30% versus a traditional 10%. This is a 200% increase over traditional marketing techniques.

Here is a short excerpt: “Dunay wasn’t sure if the podcasts would be a hit or not, especially as his key prospects tend to be fairly conservative. So he didn’t roll out trumpets and strobe lights for the launch.

Instead, the team posted the podcasts and announcements at several related sites including http://www.Podblaze.com, http://www.FreshPodcasts.com, and iTunes (all of which currently promote podcasts for free.) They also rolled out a press release and an email announcement to the house list. Their first podcast launched quietly July 29, 2005.

RESULTS

Joy and exultation! Hundreds of executives downloaded the podcasts. Dunay had hoped that 10% of podcast listeners would respond to the white paper download offer. Instead, 30% did…”

This is a great example of how marketing professionals should and could be using podcasting to help their business. This is the future of podcasting, Podcasting is going to become a marketing tool that communicates, educates and drives listeners to action. In this case the action was to download a white paper and effectively generate leads.

I have been trying to inform the business markets of this trend for the past 9 months. I discussed this very scenario in a Podcasting White Paper that was released a few months back. Read the full case study at http://www.MarketingSherpa.com

Experienced online marketing professionals that have expertise in the areas of podcast production, strategy, and visibility such as http://www.LeveragedPromotion.com can help your business achieve these same levels of results. Just creating a podcast in a vacuum of space is the wrong strategy. Make sure that you achieve maximum exposure for your podcasts so that they can deliver measurable marketing results.

Copyright 2005 Rodney Rumford

Rodney Rumford has over 18 years of experience in the technology field. He has held management positions in Marketing, Business Dev, Enterprise Consulting, Sales and Engineering. He does corporate consulting in the areas of RSS & Podcasting strategy, execution and marketing. He has developed software solutions in the areas of RSS Feeds, Podcasting and PPC Advertising. He is the CEO of The Info Guru LLC., which operates several web properties that include: http://www.podblaze.com Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Rodney_Rumford

What The Heck Is Podcasting And What Can It Do For Your Business?

Do you ever feel like technology is passing you by, no matter how hard you try to keep up? Like you’re peddling your bike as fast as you can down the middle of the business super highway, but still cars whiz by you so fast that the breeze just knocks you into the ditch?

Now I’m a pretty high-tech kind of guy. I pride myself on having all the latest and greatest techno gadgets for my personal and business life; including multiple laptop computers, the most modern cellular phone, and a Global Positioning System in my car to always tell me where I ain’t. I know, it’s supposed to tell me where I am, but my brain doesn’t work that way.

But only recently have I cemented my position among the true entrepreneurial technorati by adding a podcast to my business marketing repertoire. What’s that you say? You have no idea what a podcast is or how it can help add dollars to your bottomline? Then peddle faster, my friend, and I’ll explain it all while you catch up.

A podcast is a digital audio file that you record using your computer, recording software, and a microphone. You then upload that file to a podcasting web service so listeners can download the file or subscribe to the podcast feed and listen to it on their computer or audio player.

If that’s too techno-babblish for you, try this; a podcast is like an internet radio show that you produce and post to the web so people interested in what you have to say can listen to it on their computer or download it to an mp3 player. Now the big question: why should you care to know what a podcast is? Because used wisely, a podcast can become a powerful weapon in your marketing arsenal. It can help establish you as an expert in your field, drive traffic to your website, bring new customers in the door, open up new opportunities, and create a new revenue stream that you might have otherwise missed.

Why am I so excited about podcasting? Trust me, it’s not because I love the sound of my own voice. As my Mama says, “Some people talk just to hear their head rattle.” I believe she was looking at me the first time she said it.

I’m jazzed about podcasting because podcasting is today where email was ten years ago. Many people ridiculed email as a geeky fad and refused to believe it when the experts predicted that one day we’d all be using email to communicate with everyone from our bosses to our grandmas. It was also hard for the average Joe to imagine how anyone could make money with email. Now, not too many years later, entrepreneurs who understood the potential of email marketing and got onboard early are generating millions of dollars a year selling to customers around the globe; all through the magic of email.

I believe that podcasting actually has more potential than email because of what I call, “The Passion Factor.” With a podcast you can hear the passion in a person’s voice and get excited about their message. And podcasting is much more user friendly than email. You don’t have to read or deal with mountains of spam and you don’t have to be in front of a computer. All you have to do is listen; and you can do so anywhere by using an iPod or other portable audio player.

I started producing a weekly podcast for my Internet Marketing business about six weeks ago. The point of the podcast was to drive traffic to my websites and customers to my sales pages and eventually use it as a platform to promote my book. My podcasts are generally 20 to 30 minutes long and consist of me talking for a few minutes on a business related topic and an interview with an expert in the field related to that topic. I record my portion of the show using a headset microphone and a computer. I record the interview with the expert using a cable that connects my telephone to my computer. Once recorded and edited, the podcast sounds much like a radio show (on an amateur scale, of course). I then upload the podcast to a website called Podomatic, which makes the podcast available to the world via RSS (real simple syndication). Listeners can download my podcast to their computer or iPod and take me with them wherever they go.

What has the podcast done for my business? I have averaged 50 to 100 new subscribers to my podcast each day and have noticed a nice spike in traffic to my website. I’m seeing increased sales and getting more inquiries from potential customers. I am establishing my credibility as an authority on small business and I’m having fun doing it. And isn’t fun the best thing to have?

Here’s an example that illustrates the potential of podcasting: I met a couple at a recent seminar who have a counseling practice for divorced men dealing with child custody issues. This couple started a podcast on the topic of father’s rights and posted it to several podcast feed sites. Before long their podcast was being downloaded by hundreds of listeners each day. And at the end of each podcast they prompted listeners to visit their website to learn more about their products and services. As a result their little counseling business added over $100,000 in new revenue in just a few months. They are on track to do several hundred thousand dollars this year, thanks to the attention their podcast brings.

How could you use podcasting in your business? If you’re a dry cleaner you can record a podcast on getting tough stains out of clothes. Have listeners mention the podcast to get a discount on their next visit. If you’re a car dealer do a podcast describing the new models. If you’re a CPA do a podcast on tax tips. If you’re an attorney do a podcast giving legal tips. The possibilities are endless. You are limited only by your imagination.

If you’d like more information on podcasting and how to put it to work in your business you can email me at tim@timknox.com and I’ll point you in the right direction. If you’d like to sample my podcast you’ll find it on my website at timknox.com. From “Small Business Q&A” With Tim Knox Tim Knox is a nationally-known entrepreneur, author, speaker, and radio show host. Tim has helped hundreds of entrepreneurs realize their business dreams. To learn more please visit http://www.timknox.com Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tim_Knox